Monday, 30 November 2009

[Edit: Germund solved it himself, after I pointed out that there was a Donald Duck strip on the comics page. "Oh, that's the one with the egg!" I heard him saying... That would date it to ca August 18, 1945. Case closed.]

My friend Germund has this photo of comic strip artist Ray Gotto in his collection. Now he's wondering wich date it was taken.Impossible to know, you say? Well, if you look closely you'll see hes looking at the comics page. Any hardcore comic strip fans out there who can identify wich year and date this photo was taken?

Saturday, 28 November 2009

I just got a request for a few pics of these 1970's Disney books, wich are currently beeing talked about on the Swedish Disney comics mailing list. (At least I think these are the books...) As you can see, with these you could build Mickey Mouse's cabin and Grandma Ducks farm. Guess these are quite hard to find today. I got mine a few years ago when Egmont in Copenhagen decided to get rid of a lot of their old books. So I have plenty of books with "Tilhører Disney biblioteket GPS" (This belongs to the Disney Library GPS) in my collection. Maybe I should add a "But not anymore!" stamp.:)

Hedvig is on the town with a friend this afternoon, so I'm having a lazy saturday in my apartment. Listening to the radio and enjoying the latest packages from the US and Netherlands.

Got the "Giga-Havank" book I mentioned a while ago and it's just as stunning as I had expected. Besides lots of character studies etc it got the entire 44 page album in rough pencil form. And the colored album itself has been re-formatted so that the panels are large and close to the format they were originally drawn. And I was happy to see this drawing when I opened the book! Thanks Daan! The same package also contained the latest Elsje book by Hercules and Valkema! This is the third collection of this superbly crafted strip. And, Oy!, there's a drawing in this book too! :) Thanks Gerben!

And from the US came some other nice books. Now, I'm off to the couch to relax and enjoy these for the rest of the afternoon. :)

Thursday, 26 November 2009

Remember the song "Wilda" by Mel Graff I posted last week? I checked my set of 1947-48 X-9 strips, and whadda ya know... There it was! Graff used it in the strip as a part of the plot. I guess this was a smart way to market a song. Or not. I dunno how many copies it sold. Below are a few sample strips where the song is sung or mentioned. Hogan's Alley has a great selection of old sheet music covers with comic characters. If you want to see what the cover to Wilda looks like, just click HERE.

Sunday, 22 November 2009

A sneak peek of what can be seen on my laptop right now. This is what I'm doing on a sunday evening...In case you wonder: it's Gus and Gussie by Paul Fung edited into comic book format. The strips seen here are from November 1929. Not the most interesting strips in the run, but they are just to show what the pages will look like. The format will be mid 40's comic book format, three strips per spread. That means I won't have to reduce the strips at all. (And, yes, I'm working at the Graff strips too, just taking turns with G&G for a while.)

Time for a few more pieces of rare Barks artwork. This time a letter to Peggy Hardison written in 1963. She wrote the Disney company who in turn forwarded her letter to Carl Barks. As can be seen in the photos below she was a fan of Magica De Spell and Barks did a few drawings for her. Naturally, this was before he really got swamped with fan mail. [Click on images to enlarge.][The photos above was taken from an eBay auction many years ago. Don't know who got them or for how much.]

Monday, 16 November 2009

Want a song to hum while you are reading Mel Graff's Secret Agent X-9 dailies from the 50's?Here's Graff's own little tune: Wilda. Now, who's Wilda? She was Phil "X-9" Corrigan's gal in the daily strip. They later married and had a girl named Philda...

Friday, 13 November 2009

Chilling on Hedvig's couch in Gothenburg at the moment. She's inking with her Wacom and we're drinking Tequila Rose Java Cream. A soft Friday evening in other words. :)

Thought I'd post a few random things. Like a goodie bag. Something for everyone. :)

First off is a set of new drawings by Hedvig. These are taken from her latest blog post, where she also shows some artwork that she did with a friend when she was seven.

Next we have three original Scorchy Smith dailies by Frank Robbins. Won them in an auction yesterday. Wooha! These more than makes up for the one that was lost in the mail a few years ago. (Hmm... I still don't have them. Lets hope they make it safe across the Atlantic...) Will probably post some better scans when I get them.

It's still a few weeks until X-mas but if you want to get in the right mood already Andrew Pepoy has just released Simone & Ajax #23 online for free. Just click HERE. If you like good girl art and lemmings you're in for a treat!

One of mine and Hedvig's new favourite blogs is Sandro Cleuzo's Inspector Cleuzo blog.Sandro is a really great artist and visiting his blog is very inspiring.

To round off this post with something really nerdy, here's something from the past.

During the Stockholm leg of Carl Barks' European tour in 1994, I had the pleasure to shake hands with the old maestro. An this is me sticking a copy of Voodoo Hoodoo from 1949 in front of him, asking for a signature. The things you find on YouTube...I remember how he put his fountain pen to the book and, yikes, it made a blot. But he was fast as lightning, pulling out a handkerchief (or was it a paper napkin), soaking it up not leaving a trace of the blot. Then calmly signing it. Needless to say that's a comic book that I really treasure.

At the same meeting I saw a (still) unpublished cover rough for "Which Witch Is Which?", and a half page from Silent Night rolled up in a pink plastic bag...

Wednesday, 11 November 2009

Here's an odd and interesting thing. An unfinished childrens book by Carl Barks and Garé Williams.

The credits reads: Words by Carl BarksIllustrated by Garé Williams CarrolWilliams was, as you probably know, the maiden name of Garé Barks. That dates this dummy to somewhere between 1952 (when they met) and 1954 (when they got married). This dummy was auctioned off many years ago. It had somehow ended up in the hands of Grandey and Morby and they sold it along with many other rather personal Barks items on eBay. Unfortunately the images were pretty small. [I think the poem was quoted in the item description. I saved it but I can't find it now. Anyone who is more organized than me who saved it?]

The two paintings and the sheet below were recently sold by Jerry Weist on eBay as part of his "Barks Estate" auctions. I guess they were both by Garé. Maybe done after roughs by Carl?

"Do you ever look up in the heavens at nightand wonder what's making those millions of lights?It's the little star angels, up there in the dark -a million star angels, each blowing a spark. And each little spark that we see from afarbecomes in the darkness a beautiful star."

"Do you ever look up in the heavens by dayand wonder who's taken the star lights away?It's the little star angels up there in the skywho've covered their sparks 'till the sun has gone by.They've covered their sparks and slipped into their bedsand pulled a blue blanket up over their heads."

[If you are the owner of the original book dummy, feel free to drop me a line. I'd love to read it and see it larger then the small images above.]

Tuesday, 10 November 2009

It was a busy weekend so the Gus and Gussie samples I promised to post had to wait a while. Here are three strips from August 1929, the last year of the strip. The strip ended in early 1930 and Paul Fung began working on Dumb Dora instead. The mood in these dailies reminds me a little of Frank King's Gasoline Alley. Nice, eh?Coming up next: some Barks stuff...

Sunday, 8 November 2009

It's getting close to X-mas now so why not get yourself a gift that you know you want? Unless you wish for new underwear (or something equally boring) here's a big whopper of a book that will fit neatly beneath your x-mas tree. Danier's new giant sized version of the second Havank album "De schaduw op de tast"!

I don't have the book myself yet but I got some snapshots that will give you a hint of what to expect. (Click on the images to enlarge.)

If you got the big Franquin QRN book or the Havank teaser from 2008 you're familar with the format.

It's available in two versions (with or without a sketch page) and is limited to only 200 copies. So don't expect that these will be available forever...The price (for the regular edition) is €110 + postage. You can get the book from Danier himself by mailing: lijnlust AT xs4all.nl

Thursday, 5 November 2009

I know there are plenty of experts on old newspaper comics out there. So here's challenge for you! Let's see who can beat the rest. From wich strip is this taken?

Who said it should be easy? ;)

OK! I know it's almost impossible. You deserve a hint: It's from the 20's. And some nice samples will be posted here soon. :)

Edit: To give you a reasonable chance to figure this out here's an image. (With the main character's face deleted.)

Edit: Here are a few more hints. This artist later took over a strip created by a man who left that strip to create one of the most successful of all time. This artist also worked as an assistant on one of the funniest (at least in the 20's and 30's) and still running strips. In the end of his career he worked as an assistant to a comic strip artist known for his abstract images.

Wile on the Barks subject I can recommend a visit to Peter Kyllings great Carl Barks site www.cbarks.dk. It's absolutely loaded with information about Barks. Even if you think you know everything about the man and his comics I bet you'll find things that will surprise you there! With several thousands of pages you can spend a weekend just browsing the pages. :)

Wednesday, 4 November 2009

In an earlier post I mentioned the Carl Barks "Story Germs" folder I bought. I thought I should let you see what it looks like. Notice the "A Few Choice Examples of Businessman's Bebop" newspaper clipping peeking out.

Here we see one of Peggys ideas on top, an "interoffice communication" message from Chase Craig, glimpses of story ideas and a Bob (Calgary Eye-Opener) Edwards letter head.I also have a Gyro Gearloose folder with lots of ideas and plots. Here we can see some ideas. Both used and unused. Including an abandoned storyline for Gyro #3. As Barks red notes in the margins shows he used bits and pieces for the mailman story. Somewhere in this folder is Barks plot for the unfinished Pied Piper of Duckburg story. :) Hope you enjoyed the photos. :)

Now, I wonder how many sheets were removed from these folders before I bought them...